1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to an improved timepiece module, also called a watch, or other horologic device having a display. More specifically, the present invention relates to an improved electronic timekeeping apparatus which features improved ergonomic and design functionality, namely, a novel arrangement of timepiece components resulting in a significant reduction the thickness.
2. Description of the Related Art
A wide variety of electronic timepieces utilizing liquid crystal display (LCD) elements have been developed with great commercial success. Some of these electronic timepieces feature LCD elements which indicate the time in the form of numerals or in what is often referred to as a digital time display. The related art has also fashioned LCD elements for electronic watches that represent time in a conventional analog-type format.
More recently, electronic watches have increasingly begun to feature both conventional electro-mechanical analog time displays and complimentary LCD displays as consumers and manufacturers realize that both types of displays have certain advantages. Early examples of the dual display concept wristwatches were typically large and bulky and included only small LCD elements. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,911,665 to van Burkum discloses a wristwatch comprised of complimentary mechanically-driven analog and electrically-driven digital displays. U.S. Pat. No. 4,436,435 to Ushikoshi further advanced the art by disclosing an electronic wristwatch featuring a conventional analog display and a complimentary digital LCD display which indicates hours and minutes in alphanumeric format and included an optional alarm indicator and a flashing colon between the hours and minutes to passing seconds. The digital display of the Ushikoshi '435 wristwatch is located above (or in approximately the same plane) as the analog watch dial, thus allowing for a thinner overall design. Both displays of the Ushikoshi '435 wristwatch are driven by a single battery and a single time standard and timing circuit.
A more recent example of a dual display concept wristwatch is found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,084,828 to Bland et al., which features a timepiece and chronometer with a superimposed analog/digital display arrangement. The digital LCD display serves as the watch dial and indicates passing seconds by incrementally displaying either digits 00 through 59 or digits 01 through 60 for one second each, either in dark numerals over a light background, or vice versa. The analog display is driven by an electrical watch movement located beneath the LCD display and comprises a battery, a timing standard, timing circuitry, a stem and crown assembly, and a hand moving assembly that extends upward through the center aperture of the LCD display and couples to the analog watch hands. The digital display driver, also located behind the LCD display, couples to the digital LCD display and comprises a second battery, a timing standard, and timing and display driving electronic components and circuitry. However, while the analog movement and the digital display driver may share the same electrical ground, they are otherwise electrically isolated from one another.
Even more recently, dual display watches featuring a color-changing watch face or dial, marketed as KALEIDO™ by Fossil®, have become a significant consumer success. The watches feature a color-changing LCD display with a centralized hole through which an hand-moving assembly of an analog watch movement protrude and are affixed with conventionally styled hour and minute hands. The color-changing LCD display serves as a watch face and may have indices affixed to it. The color-changing LCD display features at least one pixel that changes color either automatically, or is selectively controlled by the user. The effect is a watch that appears like a conventional analog watch with the added feature that the user can have a watch face that changes colors or is animated in some fashion. Despite its commercial success, limitations in its current design impede its broader application. The foremost detractor to the broader application of the current design of the KALEIDO™ watch is its size.
Currently, the inclusion of an color-changing LCD display into a conventional electronic timepiece results in a noticeably thicker watch. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, prior art dual display watches 10 typically include a conventional stacked assembly of internal watch components arranged within a watch case 4 having a transparent protective watch crystal 2. As illustrated, the conventional stacked assembly arrangement usually comprises an color-changing LCD display 12, an analog watch movement 14, one or more printed circuit board (PCB) assemblies 16, and a battery 18. In this arrangement, the thickness of the resulting timepiece is dictated by the sum of the thicknesses of the stacked components. This is particularly problematic when an analog watch movement 14 is incorporated into the display by drilling a hole through the color-changing LCD display 12 to accommodate the analog watch hand movement 14a. The problem is further compounded when the LCD element 12 comprises more than one LCD element and/or includes added colorization and polarization layers. As a consequence, the resulting thickness and general size of current dual display watches often detracts from the aesthetics and physical ergonomics of the watches, making them undesirable to many customers. While many men may actually prefer a large watch, such watches are oftentimes ungainly for women. The conventional stacked assembly arrangement of current dual display watches makes it nearly impossible to make a watch of suitable thickness for a woman, namely, less than 11–12 mm. In fact, most women's watches feature thicknesses less than 9.5 mm.
Thus, improved ergonomics are essential to enhancing the interaction of humans with technologically advanced electronic devices, such as electronic timepieces. While the ability to accurately and rapidly convey discrete information is important to the design of any timepiece, the consumer market also demands that such increased complexity and functionality not detract from the comfort, ease of use, or fashion elements. Thus, it is equally important that a watch be as comfortable to wear as it is functional to use, and still remain fashionable. Moreover, in the women's fashion watch market, success is based upon giving the customer appropriately sized, low-priced watches that allow them to match different watches to different outfits. The sales potential in this market for an appropriately sized, comfortable and functional watch that can display changing colored segments or simply a watch face that can change based on preprogrammed electronics or at the whim of the customer is thought to be very strong.